Deputies face murder charges after Black man dies in custody
Video from a state mental hospital shows a Black Virginia man who was handcuffed and shackled being pinned to the ground by seven deputies who are now facing second-degree murder charges in his death, according to relatives of the man and their attorneys who viewed the footage Thursday. Three people employed by the hospital have also been charged.
Speaking at a news conference shortly after watching the video with a local prosecutor, the family and attorneys condemned the brutal treatment they said Irvo Otieno, 28, was subjected to, first at a local jail and then at the state hospital where authorities say he died March 6 during the admission process.
They called on the U.S. Department of Justice to intervene in the case, saying Otieno’s constitutional rights were clearly violated.
“What I saw today was heartbreaking, America. It was disturbing. It was trau- matic. My son was tortured,” said Otieno’s mother, Caro- line Ouko.
Otieno’s case marks the latest example of a Black man’s in-custody death that has law enforcement under scrutiny. It follows the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols in Memphis, Tennessee, earlier this year and comes nearly three years after the killing of George Floyd in police cus- tody in Minneapolis.
Ben Crump, who represented Floyd’s family and is now working with Otieno’s, quickly drew a comparison.
“It is truly shocking that nearly three years after the brutal killing of George Floyd
by police, another family is grieving a loved one who allegedly died in nearly the exact same manner — being pinned down by police for 12 agonizing minutes,” Crump said in a statement.
Mark Krudys, another attorney for Otieno’s family, said at the news confer- ence that the video showed all seven of the deputies now facing charges pushing down on Otieno, who was in hand- cuffs and leg irons.
“You can see that they’re putting their back into it. Every part of his body is being pushed down with absolute brutality,” he said.
Ten people so far have been charged w ith second-degree murder in Otie- no’s death. The seven Henrico County Sheriff’s deputies were charged Tuesday and additional charges were announced Thursday
against three people who were employed by the hospital.
The footage the family watched Thursday has not been publicly released. But Dinwiddie County Commonwealth’s Attorney Ann Cabell Baskervill also described it in court Wednesday, saying at the first hearing for the deputies that Otieno was smothered to death, local news outlets reported.
Baskervill said Otieno did not appear combative and was sitting in a chair before being pulled to the ground by the officers, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported.
She announced Thursday in a news release the addi- tional charges against the hospital employees: Darian M. Blackwell, 23, of Petersburg; Wavie L. Jones, 34, of Chesterfield; and Sadarius D.
Williams, 27, of North Dinwiddie. They were being held without bond, and it wasn’t immediately clear if they had attorneys who could speak on their behalf. A spokeswoman for the state police said she didn’t know if they had obtained counsel, and none were listed in court records. The news release did not say what role they are alleged to have had in Otieno’s death.
Additional charges and arrests are pending, Baskervill said.
Otieno, who was a child when his family emigrated from Kenya and grew up in suburban Richmond, had a history of mental health struggles and was experiencing mental distress at the time of his initial encounter with law enforcement earlier this month, his family and their attorneys said.